ICDP: Elgygytgyn_Daily

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Visit also the El'gygytgyn Web Sites at:
University of Cologne, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of Vienna and

Tim Martins bloggs and videos on the PolarTrec Web Site

We've just found another surprise in the cores. Deep in the Pliocene at about 240 m core depth a laminated section could be observed, but apparently of a completely new facies.	Image of the day.

	Laminated section within the Plocene

Date	Image of the day	Message of the day
2010-10-26		We've just found another surprise in the cores. Deep in the Pliocene at about 240 m core depth a laminated section could be observed, but apparently of a completely new facies. more ...
2010-09-06		With this short section we've reached the new depth mark of 200 mblf. According to the preliminary age model, we should be deep in the Pliocene. The core recovery and the quality is poorer in this section of the core. But it's getting better! more ...
2009-12-04		Now all our students are pretty active opening and subsampling the cores, so all the researchers will get their samples asap. more ...
2009-12-01		PIs Pavel Minyuk and Martin Melles discussing about a freshlay opened core. more ...
2009-11-30		The special liner cutting device at the lab of the Cologne university is a special tool for opening core of different diameters. more ...
2009-11-03		Core 1A-8H-3-W more ...
2009-07-15		First frozen core from Siberia are being opened more ...
2009-05-18		Winding down the field program commonly requires some waiting time in Pevek because planes to Moscow fly only every 2 weeks. While we wait, the group is being housed on the guest floor of the Chukothydromet Station where 9 men share one room and 4 women share another; we all share one bathroom and one shower. Dr. Ivanov, our medical doc from St. Petersburg loves cooking for all of us on the 2 burner shove we share with all of the other residents on the floor,.. as we do the bathroom facilities. Despite all, the price is right. We are all looking forward to getting home. Dasvi Danya from Pevek! more ...
2009-05-16		We are back in lovely Pevek, once again. As we negotiate the sidewalks and visit the shops, we are met with many familiar faces and welcoming smiles. The ladies in this shop proudly displayed the Lake E poster on their wall, and were very excited to discover that we were just returning from the lake. The difference in Pevek for most of us is that there is much less snow here than during our last visit, and people seem to be out enjoying the plentiful sunlight. Families are walking, kids are biking, and puppies are sunning in the streets. We have paid visits to the museum, the Ramoushka, and the Iceberg, and our large group will continue to boost Pevek's economy as long as we remain hungry and in need of entertainment. Tonight, we had a lovely dinner made by Chefs Vladimir (Vladi and the camp doctor). Buttery potatoes and pork chops with caramelized onions and parsley and orange garnish. Yum. more ...
2009-05-15		The cores we collected total some 3.5 tons and they are safely stored in a reefer in Pevek in preparation for a chartered plane to St. Petersburg. The sediment cores were placed in thermoboxes to protect them from large temperature swings and they are being kept inside a temperature controlled reefer. Dummy cores in the thermal boxes will record the temperature history of the inventory. We expect the cores to complete processing through Russian customs by sometime in September. more ...
2009-05-13		With all of the final packing of the drill rig and science equipment complete, it was finally time for 11 of us to depart along with 4 of the Russian camp crew. So 15 of us piled all of our baggage and ourselves into the chopper and said goodbye. The chopper is just a speck in the picture as it approaches the helo pad. Most of us had mixed emotions as the rim of the crater faded from view. more ...
2009-05-12		One of most important assets of the project will be the Drilling system which will now become the property of the NEISRI-Magadan, Russian Academy of Sciences. They are obligated to make the rig available to ICDP projects for at least the next 5 years. Pavel Minyuk of NEISRI has worked tirelessly and to exhaustion, inventorying every part, producing spreadsheets in Russian and in English, and photographing all to make sure that everything is documented for future use. more ...
2009-05-11		There isn't much that is really "formal" at Lake E but we decided that it might be appropriate one night after dinner to have a formal flag ceremony to mark the end of the field campaign. The flags in camp have been a constant reminder of our international makeup and its been remarkable how much of a symbol they have become to all of us out here working hard, side by side, in three languages. Victor dropped the flags so we could recover the EBA and DOSECC flags for the trip home, but we donated the other flags to the camp until the containers are safely in Pevek next August. more ...
2009-05-09		With only a few days left before the arrival of the helicopter, Brady, Volker, and Addie decided to take a hike up to the top of the big mountain behind camp. It was not the perfect day (very overcast and windy) but we could see to the other side of the crater, so we went for it. On the way up, we watched a ground squirrel, who was also watching us, found many caribou tracks and horns, and lots of impact glass. We took a rather circuitous route so that we were able to walk a ridge line for a bit to get to the highest peak. After weeks of looking at the scenery from the lake (as stunning as it is), it was great to finally get a peek over the tops of those mountains, to the mountains on the other side! From the very top of the highest peak, we were up in the clouds and couldn't see much, but the ride down was quick and provided great views of camp and the lake. We mostly followed caribou trails down the steeper sections, and slid on our butts through the snowy patches. more ...
2009-05-07		Since arriving in late March, Addie Holland (UMass) and Kristina Brady (LacCore-Uni Minn) have been part of the infrastructure holding up the night shift on the drill rig. Since they are commonly found together in various work activities, some of the Russians blur their names into "Addiebrady". Here they are riding on top of the Vesdahot one more time for a trip to the old cabin to recover more parts of Matt Nolan's met station. more ...
2009-05-06		Moira Rankin and Jared Weissbrot from Soundprint have been with us for the final week of packing. They are producing IPY science programming for radio with funding from the NSF and in collaboration with Deutsche Welle, New Zealand Radio and BBC World. Coming at the end of the project they are doing a retrospective of what we have accomplished at Lake E. more ...
2009-05-05		In the last few days, the Lake E ice highway has seen a lot of dozer traffic. Since the second day of tear down, three dozers have been back and forth from the platform to camp - day and night - dragging all of the parts and pieces of the rig back to camp (about 3 hours round trip). The platform itself, after all the walls and roof panels were disassembled and packed into a container, was separated into 6 pieces. The larger dozer was able to tow a quarter at a time, but the smaller dozer could only tow an eighth. Between the platform pieces and the containers, those dozers know that road well! As of Tuesday night, everything from the ice pad is back at camp except for snow fence, bamboo poles, and the dreaded outhouse.. We will be out in the next couple of days to do a final clean-up and inspection. more ...
2009-05-04		After the mishap with all of the pipe lost down the hole at D1d, we were slightly wary that the GYGY monster might have developed a taste for steel and attempt another meal. So we kept a close eye on each piece as the casing was loaded, 2 by 2, onto the sled to make the dozer trip back to camp. All of the large pieces of equipment, including the rig itself, mud tanks, casing, pipe rack, and the big tool box were unloaded from the platform using the crane and put into containers or sleds to be transported back to camp. Many containers were packed on the ice pad and will be inventoried back at camp to be ready for shipment to Magadan via Pevek. more ...
2009-05-03		Demobilization of the platform took three days of hard labor to clean and tear it down. Once the tent and the walls were gone, we couldn't lunch out at the rig anymore, so we took the bus back to camp for our midday meal. We were blessed with such amazing sunshine during the tear down work, that it felt so good to just sit and soak it in. Here Grisha, Vladi, and Karsten sit on the meat box in front of the kitchen and enjoy the bright sun as it rejuvenates them for an afternoon of lifting wall panels, stacking pipe, and chipping ice. more ...
2009-05-02		Vladi waves from the roof of the rig as he unhitches the first corner of the tent that has covered the rig for the last couple of months. The first morning of tear down happened so quickly with everyone working together to take advantage of the beautiful weather and an energized crew. Russians, Germans, Americans, and a Canadian were working side by side with cordless drills and ladders - and the screws were flying. By lunchtime we had the tent down, the roof off, and half of the walls stacked on the ground. more ...
2009-04-30		Night is becoming day at Lake E -- Twilight is growing so that now our nights are not as dark as a few weeks ago. The sun goes down behind the rim of the crater about 9 PM but it doesn't get dark until nearly 11:30 and is light again by 3:30 or 4 AM. The picture here was taken around 1:30 AM and you can see 15 km (9.3 miles) across the crater; the smallest dot of light above the housing is the drill rig 7.25 km (4.5 miles) from camp. The brightly lit building on the left is the kitchen/mess hall. more ...
2009-04-29		Who would know that even on a drill rig we have artistic masterpieces. Monet, Degas, Gauguin, Minyuk....Minyuk? Yes, PI Pavel Minyuk has created a new art form we call Greasy Impressionism. Pavel gathered up the 4 types of grease (all different colors) used in the rig operations and created this work of genius of our Russian GLAD-800 for the science side of the platform. It will never hang anywhere else unless someone uses a saw to take it out of the wall more ...
2009-04-28		Imagine the task of feeding 40 hungry people three meals a day for months and its 370 km (230 miles) to the nearest grocery store. Ludmilla and Vika from Pevek do an outstanding job serving hot meals with as much variety as you can get given the remoteness of the camp and infrequent resupply. Rice, pasta and kasha (gelishka) are staples topped with meat (beef, pork chicken or fish), delicious sauces, and sometimes a cabbage/onion salad. Milk porridge is an alternative offered for breakfast and commonly they make buns topped with a sugar icing. A variety of soups are also offered daily. Best of all, fresh bread is out on the tables at every meal. They produce all of these things in this modest kitchen with three stoves and one small sink. more ...
2009-04-27		In the impactite sequence below the suevite we encountered, as expected, fractured and brecciated volcanic target rocks that had been uplifted by maybe a kilometer or more within a minute or so during the formation of the El’gygytgyn impact crater. Studies of shocked minerals in the rocks shown above will provide information on the mechanics of crater formation. more ...
2009-04-26		A suevitic breccia – which is a melt-bearing polymict impact breccia (i.e., a rock that consists of broken pieces of many different target rocks, with a little impact melt rock mixed in), from about 316 m below the lake floor, just below the transition from the post-impact lake sediments. The glassy melt rock, which forms during the impact when some of the rock is heated to over 2000°C, is the dark gray frothy inclusion in the center of the core segment. more ...
2009-04-25		A most exciting drill core for the impact scientists on the El’gygytgyn drilling project: a polymict, melt-bearing impact breccia, also called a suevite. This rock originates during the crater formation, when during the immensely energy-rich, explosion-like excavation of the crater a kilometer-thick section of target rock is broken to pieces (and some melt is formed), thrown in the air and falls back into the crater, where it is lithified (from a depth of about 320 m below the lake floor). more ...
2009-04-24		As we approach the end of April here at Lake E, we are starting to see more wild life at the lake. Within 1 kilometer of the platform the crews spotted a herd of caribou slowly making their way across the lake. Estimates vary but the herd included at least 30 caribou, and may have been as large as 50. In other years we have seen the herds gather in spring in the Enmyvaam River valley that forms the outlet of the lake. Lake E is right on the divide in the Anadyr Mts and is a low pass to north to south travel. more ...
2009-04-23		DOSECC Foreman and drilling supervisor Jerry Jensen found it hard to imagine the hydraulics would overheat when the outside temperature was -17 degrees C. But bentonite had gotten into the fins on the radiator. The problem was eventually fixed but not until after Jerry was seen trying to cool the radiator with some snow. more ...
2009-04-22		Christian Koeberl, University of Vienna (one of the principal investigators) arrived at Lake E to start studies of the impact rocks as we finalize the drilling at site 1C. Here he is inspecting an impactite core containing strongly fragmented and monomictly brecciated volcanic target rocks, which are part of the central uplift of the El’gygytgyn crater. more ...
2009-04-20		Rita Nasyrova has been working with the project as a translator and liaison with other businesses in Pevek since mid January and she has been doing an outstanding job! She works with all of the scientists as they pass through Pevek and also assists with project discussions and written with our Russian Contractor Chaun Mining and also with the ChukotHydroment who are our hosts in Pevek. Rita is also very familiar with the project because her father, Roman, is one of the drillers on our dayshift. more ...
2009-04-18		In preparation for moving the rig for hole 1D, drilling and science crews worked to break the drill rig free from the lake ice and spillage around the rig. This was done to see if the rig could be hydraulically jacked up a few centimeters in such a way that we could eventually move the rig as one unit using a bulldozer, after we finish the bedrock sequence in hole 1 C. The jack-up worked well and the entire rig now sits on pieces of wood. Even the few skeptics among us are now very optimistic. The plan is to put sections of dented HQ pipe under the runners and roll the rig on the pipe with one dozer to the new position some 10m from the old hole. The successful jack-up test means that we should be able to move the rig easily and in the shortest amount of time to start drilling hole 1D and replicate the sediment section below -150m. more ...
2009-04-15		The ice on the lake is remarkable because its very clear to the point that you feel like you are walking on nothing at all. Yet the ice at the drill pad now averages 2.16 m and its grown 5 cm in the past 2 weeks. The free board has ranged from 8.5 cm to 10.5 cm with little change during despite additional loads such as mud and drill pipes. The average ice temperature is about -10 deg.C which is well below the safe average temperature of -2 deg. C. Between January 22 and April 4, the average thickness along the road to the platform has increased by 44 cm from 104 cm to 148 cm; or 0.6 cm/day. Volker Neth, EBA Engineering, Canada, daily monitors the ice for the project. more ...
2009-04-14		Eureka! We reached the impact breccia on April 14, 2009, at 6:55 PM at a depth of -315 meters below lake floor. Using the smaller HQ pipe the crew collected over 27 m of laminated fine grained muds representing probably the earliest record of Lake E in the middle Pliocene. Then without any problems the cores started to come up with full recovery of the impact breccia. The entire camp was all smiles and excited about the collective accomplishment and the quality of the cores. The depth of the contact at -315 m is not too far off the earlier estimated depth of 330 m. Phone calls were made to German PI Martin Melles now back in Cologne and Austrian PI Christian Koeberl is on his way to the field camp next week. Russian PI Pavel Minyuk and American PI Julie Brigham-Grette were on site to share thank yous with the drillers and the science crews. Both were part of the original 6-person team who collected the first sediment cores from the lake in 1998. Its been a long journey to reach this day. Nevertheless we are not done yet; drilling into the breccia now continues. more ...
2009-04-13		The Switch to HQ Pipe -- Having reached the load capacity of the drill rig for use of the larger PQ pipe at a depth of 272m below lake floor, today we switched to using the smaller diameter HQ pipe. So now the PQ pipe acts like a casing for the HQ and drilling continues without the PQ weight on the derrick. The HQ is fit with an HQ3 bit on the end, an adapted hard rock core catcher, and a lexan (special plastic) liner so we can continue to recover sediments and drill into the anticipated breccia using the same tools. more ...
2009-04-10		Tim Martin, middle school Earth Science teacher from Greensboro Day School, North Carolina, is participating in a portion of the Lake E field operations are part of the US NSF Polar TREC Program (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating). Tim is learning about all aspects of the project providing summaries of everything from the Drilling operations and science planning to camp life and observations about the El'gygytgyn crater. Today with the assistance of ARCUS in Fairbanks, Alaska, Tim and PI Julie BG held an "webinar" that included an short on-line powerpoint presentation and question and answers over the iridium phone. More than 200 children from 4th grade to high school age logged in along with teachers and others from across the country. Questions came in from kids in Virginia as well as California about all aspects of the Lake E project. more ...
2009-04-09		Our first large batch of cores were today removed from the temperature controlled reefer in camp, and packed up into new thermal boxes to protect them from freezing. These boxes were then quickly loaded onto a helicopter and flown to Pevek where they were also quickly offloaded and trucked to another temperature controlled reefer to await shipment to St. Petersburg for export. The 22 thermal boxes each contained about 12 meters of core at a weight of about 6 kgs per meter. So the entire cargo, including the boxes weighed about 1.76 tons, well under the 2 ton capacity of the MI-8 helicopter. Watching the helicopter fly off to the north, many of us couldn't help but think about the awesome value of the cargo -- both in currency and sweat equity. more ...
2009-04-08		Drilling at Lake El'gygytgyn continues slowly but surely as we make our way down through some difficult unexpectedly coarse grained sediment sections below 190 m depth. The lake ice under the drill rig is 2.1 meters thick and exceptionally strong to support drilling operations. Nevertheless given that drilling platforms anywhere can be dangerous work places, we maintain one vehicle at the edge of the ice platform in the unlikely event of an emergency. We also have a balok (one of the small sleeping containers) at the edge of the platform on 24-hour standby stocked with rations and sleeping bags. How do you spell the name of the Russian All-terrain vehicle? The Russian word is shown in the photo. Westechod Wesdechod Vezdehod Vestehotte Vestahot Vastehot Vastahot Vestehoat Vestehaut Vestehoet Vestahoet Vastehoet Vestehoet Vastahoet Vestikhot Veez’dahoot more ...
2009-04-04		Drilling efforts at the platform were stopped for roughly 30 hrs over the last weekend to allow engineers from the ICDP Operational Support conduct downhole logging. First the platform crew completed the job of cleaning out and stabilizing the drill hole all the way to -150 m sediment depth by circulating mud (this effectively lines the bore hole walls with mud to keep it from collapsing into the hole). This provided the ideal conditions for down hole logging. Jochem Kück and Martin Töpfer of the ICDP-OSG, are shown here working with winch and instrument probes (sondes). Measurements included magnetic susceptibility, natural gamma, spectral gamma, electrical resistivity, sonic velocity and temperature. They also used an acoustic camera to image the borehole walls for structure and particle size information. more ...
2009-04-01		April 1st brought a change in personnel at the camp with the departure of Martin Melles (PI) and three others and the arrival of Julie Brigham-Grette (PI) with six others including the ICDP downhole loggers. They brought with them the replacement tools needed for the drill rig. Drilling resumed almost immediately. more ...
2009-03-31		The replacements bits (those for the Bottom Hole Assembly for PQ pipes from Salt Lake City as well as the Tricon for HQ pipes purchased in Magadan) are waiting in Bilibino to be picked up. The helicopter from Pevek is ordered and the weather forecast is good. So, we are hopeful that we will be back in business tomorrow. The waiting time was used for reasonable maintainance, lab, and office work - and for some expansions of the field camp! more ...
2009-03-23		The PQ pipe got twisted off again, this time at 117 mblf in Hole 1B. Most likely, the casing became unscrewed during drilling. With this event we have lost our last Bottom Hole Assembly, making further recovery of lake sediments impossible. Consequently, we have to wait for replacement parts before drilling can be continued. more ...
2009-03-21		After reaching a sediment depth of 143.32 m, the pipe became twisted off. A second hole was started immediately next to the first one and has already reached 76.68 m below lake floor. The core processing laboratory is full to the brim and almost overflowing with cores. more ...
2009-03-18		First cores recovered -- yippieee! Since March 18, 2009 shortly after midnight we are in coring business. The uppermost sediment column is retrieved by use of the Hydraulic Piston Corer (HPC). Core recovery so far is at 100% and the cores do not show any sign of disturbance. Looking forward for more, more, more! more ...
2009-03-12		After our last report we started up the second large electrical generator at the platform, ignited two of the diesel heaters, installed the rig, pipe rack, and casing pipe, and set up the platform electrical system and and lit the platform lights for the first time. Then, five days ago, we worked through the day and into the night--until midnight--to raise the rig's derrick and secure the tarp over the top of the derrick and platform. It was a calm day and evening, and we made the decision to work overtime to finish this task that critically depended on the weather. It was a good day capping a stretch of solid progress. The next day was a day off for all, but by the evening a strong north wind had begun to blow. It strengthened and continued over four days. With the storm raging, visibility low and large snow drifts forming, were able to reach the platform only with difficulty. We wondered how the platform, derrick and tarps would fare in their first real weather test, but they met the challenge with only a few minor problems. We are working to address them and complete the setup of the remaining platform and drilling systems. more ...
2009-03-08		Work here proceeds by leaps and bounds! Our newly arrived crane was put to work lifting the rig onto the platform, the derrick was attached to the rig and then slowly lifted up into position. The tent and connected tarps now cover our roof -making the platform weatherproof and looking somewhat like a circus tent. Work proceeded until midnight yet we were not so tired that we forgot Pavel's birthday... the celebration of which happens to coincide with Russian Woman's Day. Our major accomplishment is the final set up and errection of the rig and tent and we eagerly look forward to start drilling and recieving the first cores of 2009. more ...
2009-03-04		We've made great progress in the last few days. The platform ceiling panels have been installed, the roof tarps pulled tight, the electrical system partly set up, and the water/mud tanks positioned and connected together. Today we got the first of the two large electrical generators running. We have sorted and staged much of the equipment and supplies needed during drilling, and are presently working on firing up the diesel heaters and thawing out the drill rig. The helicopter arrived from Pevek with Martin, Grisha, Vladimir, and Kenna, and a lot of equipment and supplies, and returned to Pevek with Chico and Dietmar on board. We also welcomed the arrival of the crane for lifting the drill rig to the platform, and the transporter truck for bringing crew to/from the drill site. The chopper brought in additional bamboo poles that had been long delayed in customs, and today these were installed along the ice road to the drill site -- doubling the number of flagged markers along the route and easing the journey for people making the trip when visibility is low. more ...
2009-03-01		In a single day of fortuitous warm and calm weather, 14 people from the science, drilling, and camp crews worked together to put up all of the drilling platform walls. This could have been a slow and potentially hazardous task if the temperature had been -40C (it was -5C at midday--the warmest temperature since December at the least) and if the wind had been blowing (it was calm for most of the day). Instead we completed 5 days' work in one day, and we now look forward to attaching the ceiling and roof-tarps tomorrow, among other tasks. We still wait for the crane to arrive from Pevek to lift the drill rig, casing, and other exceptionally heavy equipment to the platform surface, but we're formulating backup plans in case the crane does not arrive in time. Our camp lab space is now fully constructed and operational, and is now ready for the arrival of the first cores to begin multisensor core logging. more ...
2009-02-25		Drilling platform construction has begun. The bulldozers have towed all of the skids to the drill site on the lake, and our crew worked through yesterday evening and throughout the day to attach the interlocking mechanisms and unite the skids into a single drilling platform. This has been a slow process, with an uneven ice surface and plenty of fresh snow on the pad -- and only a single bulldozer to push and lift the skids into their proper position. As of now, assembly is about 75% complete. The bulldozers initially encountered substantial difficulties in towing the shipping containers to the drill site, as the containers lack skids and consequently snow piled in front of the container until it became too heavy to tow. Victor and his camp crew found a more effective method of towing and have successfully transferred several of the containers. more ...
2009-02-22		Ice flooding at drill site D1 has completed, with the most recent thickness measurements showing 195 cm of ice on the pad. This amount is much more than needed for safety during the remainder of our expedition, and of course the ice will continue to thicken naturally over the coming weeks and months. Recent measurements on the ice road to the drill site show that the thickness has increased by 10 to 20 cm during the past month (from ~100 cm in January to 120 cm yesterday). Ice monitoring for thickness, quality, temperature, and freeboard will continue throughout the remainder of the project. Shipping containers with drilling equipment and supplies have continued to arrive at our camp via overland convoy from Pevek, with 13 of the 16 containers now present. We have inventoried equipment and arranged materials in these containers, and at present the bulldozers are towing everything to the drill pad. We plan to begin platform assembly today, and (weather permitting) we hope to finish construction in one to two weeks. more ...
2009-02-18		On Sunday the helicopter flew from Pevek to camp, despite strong winds and low visibility here. It brought two additional science crew members to camp, as well as food and other camp supplies. We said our goodbyes to two of the three ice engineers and one of the DOSECC crew, who boarded the empty helicopter for the return flight to Pevek. Ice flooding has thickened the ice at primary dill site D1 well beyond the requirements for drilling operations safety, but continues at a slower pace until the equipment is ready to be assembled at the site or the ice thickness has reached 200cm. Containers with drilling equipment and supplies continue to trickle into our camp; we now have 9 of the 16 containers needed. We were able to unload and/or move some of the materials that, in turn, allow us to prepare the science container dedicated for multisensor core logging. We have also been making repairs to a handful of equipment that has arrived in camp, to be certain that everything is operational and ready for rig assembly when the remaining containers arrive. The last two days have been clear and calm -- a welcome change after three and a half days of intense wind and low visibility. more ...
2009-02-14		Two days ago the first of the containers full of drilling equipment and supplies arrived after the ~370km journey via overland convoy from Pevek. Moving freight across this roadless landscape right now is quite an endeavor. The huge trucks creep along day and night, in calm and in storm, but get bogged down in any snow drifts that are deeper than their axles. They must take turns being pulled through the tough spots by a bulldozer. When they arrive at our camp, the containers must be unloaded from the truck beds -- but this too is a challenge because we do not yet have a crane here, so bulldozers push the snow into into a ramp that is used as an improvised loading dock. The trucks back up to this snow ramp and the bulldozer pulls the containers off the truck and down the ramp. The trucks departed yesterday evening for Pevek, and we turned our attention to the container contents, and preparing them for the drill platform assembly and operation. Ice flooding is nearly complete at primary drill site D1. The pad looks great. If the weather cooperates, tomorrow the helicopter will fly from Pevek, bringing additional science crew to the camp, and two of the three ice engineers and one of the DOSECC crew back to Pevek. At the moment the wind is strong and the air temperature is -38°C, but we hope for the best. more ...
2009-02-11		The last two days have been clear and calm, but the barometer has been falling steadily. The long-expected winds have arrived this morning--visibility is low once again and drifts are forming in front of our doors. One of our two Vestehot ("runabout") tracked personnel carriers broke down, which has put heavier demands for usage on the other one. We still wait for the arrival of the long-delayed overland convoys from Pevek, bringing equipment and supplies for drilling. When they arrive, we will begin assembling the drilling platform and staging the materials. In the meantime, the ice engineering team and others from camp continue to spend long hours flooding and thickening the ice at primary drill site D1. The thickened pad has become glassy smooth -- we wish for ice skates! 50cm of ice has been added to the 100cm that existed when flooding began, and we expect that five additional days of flooding will bring the thickness to the desired 200cm. We have also visited the prominent ice ridge crossing the lake parallel to our ice road. more ...
2009-02-08		The second of two clear days allowed the continuation of flooding for ice thickening at primary coring site D1, and also the arrival via helicopter of ten people to the lake. This influx included the drilling crew from DOSECC, operations support personnel, and Russian drillers and camp staff, and together with the addition of overland convoy drivers brought the population of Camp El'gygytgyn to 30 people at present. Strong winds and low visibility slowed work progress during the next three days, but despite the difficult conditions flooding continued at D1 yesterday. This morning dawned crystal clear and calm, with a temperature of -34°C: perfect conditions for flooding. The pumps delivered 1400 metric tons of water to the D1 ice surface over the course of four hours. We plan for additional flooding in the coming days and the arrival of the first of the DOSECC containers with the drilling platform and equipment. more ...
2009-02-04		Strong winds calmed after five days permitting the completion of snow removal from coring position D1. Ice flooding was commenced immediately and has continued for two days. Water was pumped from three locations within the proposed drilling platform area. Almost all of the area has been flooded with some locations around the perimeter having up to 20 cm of water applied. The ice could be heard to be cracking underneath the application of water which differed in temperature up to 30°C. This was to be expected and is of no safety concern. This application must be given time to adequately freeze prior to the next flooding event. more ...
2009-02-01		The ominous storm has persisted for the fourth day now, effectively halting all progress at D1. All project team members have remained in the base camp with the exception of January 31, when the safety balok was towed to D1. Visibility during their return was limited to within 20 meters. Storm intensity has increased by February 01 to display wind speeds of a minimum 100 km/hr and visibility being reduced to under 10 meters, despite the rather moderate temperature of -22C. Personnel have been taking advantage of this lull in field activity to complete logistical and camp-maintenance duties in addition to resting. The included map and profile shows the ice status to date. more ...
2009-01-29		One of the camp bulldozers has cleared the snow cover from approximately one third of the ice surface at the drilling location D1. A mobile trailor, called a balok, has been prepared for positioning at D1. This will remain onsite for emergencies and also for defrosting the ice-flooding equipment and personnel who expect extended hours, once the ice flooding commences. The following day all personnel were confined to base camp duties. This was due to extremely high velocity wind and the accompanying reduced visibility, sometimes limited to 100 meters. The snow clearing operation will continue once this weather front has abated. more ...
2009-01-27		A separate ice road is required for each drilling location on Lake El’gygytgyn. The ice roads are 7.2 km and 5.0 km long to D1 and D2 respectively. The northern location D1, nearest the Lake centre, is isolated from location D2 by an active pressure ridge. It was determined not to attempt any manner of crossing the pressure ridge and crack by the ice safety specialists with EBA Engineering Consultants. This pressure ridge averages 5 meters across and is accompanied with an active crack that averages 1 to 2 meters in width. Additional road markers of bamboo poles were installed every 60 meters along the ice road to D1. The ice thickness along the ice road to D1 was verified with an additional profiling program testing every 0.5 km and the perimeter of the D1 platform was also profiled. This was to confirm adequate ice thickness for the deployment of a bulldozer to clear the snow from the D1 platform. All ice thicknesses exceeded now 1.0 meter. Snow clearing and subsequent flooding of the D1 platform is expected to start immediately. more ...
2009-01-23		Ice road construction has concluded the layout of both roads to the drilling sites D1 and D2. Distance signs and marker poles of bamboo have been frozen in place every 250 meters. Work has progressed every day during daylight hours, despite the frigid temperatures which often drop below -30 C, not considering the windchill factor. Both D1 and D2 ice platforms have been marked out, also with bamboo poles, and are awaiting snow clearing prior to the commencement of flooding. more ...
2009-01-21		The preliminary team of scientists for the Lake El'gygytgyn Project arrived at the lake via helicopter from Pevek on January 19. They will assist organising the base camp and immediately commence ice road construction prior to positioning the drilling rig. The route of this road must safely navigate the ice cracks and pressure ridges which traverse the lake surface. The present ice thickness varies an average of 1.0 m near the shoreline and 0.9 to 1.1 m near the lake centre. more ...
2008-12-04		The drilling is finished: With a final depth of 141.5 meters the campaign can be considered as a success! The hole was cased further down to 4 meters and a thermistor chain was inserted to establish a new continuous long-term monitoring spot in the permafrost. This is to further study the temperature profile development and possible changes in the permafrost of the Arctic. It is part of the TSP (Thermal State of Permafrost) network. The hole was then sealed and things are packed to bring out people as well as the cores. This won’t be a final farewell to Lake El’gygytgyn: In a short while the ice thickening people will get the ice ready for the lake sediment drilling campaign following us to this remote location. We wish them all the best, good luck, stay warm and - Drill deep!!! more ...
2008-12-02		The Permafrost crew is accompanied by two journalists. They film a 45-minute documentation mainly for the high quality channel ARTE but also a 52 minutes version for the international market. We are looking forward to seeing an ambitious movie of an ambitious project. more ...
2008-11-30		After some teeth broke out of the drill bits and had to be fished and some compressor blackouts the 100 Meter mark was reached faster than everyone expected. So far we recover mainly ice-bearing, fairly coarse-grained material. more ...
2008-11-28		At nighttime the traverse from Pevek already expected for days finally arrived! Escorted by one of the Bulldozers from on-site that went over the crater rim to look out for them three trucks brought more fuel to fire up the engines of the drilling rig. Together with the diesel new coal was brought for the stoves in the private boloks as the electrical devices don’t provides enough heat for cold windy nights. Everyone is relieved for being able to continue the work: Full steam ahead! more ...
2008-11-26		Drilling continues with an average progress of app. 20m/day. Though some drilling bits had to be changed on the way today we advanced to a depth of 54 meters. The cores are pictured, described and packed into thermoboxes. They will be finally send back by a charterflight to St.Petersburg and continue their transport to Potsdam via an established connection by a cold-truck.. Meantime the weather turned into a mess again, welcoming us with strong icy winds at a temperature of -25°C on the transition. But in the rig the heat is on! more ...
2008-11-24		The drilling has started. The casing for the first two meters - drilled with a 220mm diameter - was placed in the hole and during the first night a progress of 10 meters was made. The drillers as well as the scientists work in 12 hour shifts 24/7. The drilling rig is a SIF 650 M. The outer diameter following the 220 mm start-up is 161 mm, with an ID of 112 mm for the actual core. The drill is driven by a pneumatic-rotary system. A compressor generates a high air pressure to get out the cutting (which are collected as well) and to guarantee for clean cores. more ...
2008-11-22		Finally after a hard 250 km traverse from Pevek our two All-Terrain Military Vehicles locally called “Vestikhot” arrived. Now it’s time for the generator and the compressor to be moved to the drilling rig and to get the first crew to the site by the new vehicles. more ...
2008-11-20		The drill rig, the fuel and our working containers were moved from the camp to the actual drilling spot. Paralell two Vestikhot all terrain vehicles from Pevek now make their way to the camp, to support the campaign and ease the 2 km transfer from camp to drilling location. Our working bolok will be just next to the actual rig and is ready for receiving the cores at a working temperature of -5°C. more ...
2008-11-18		The project flag and the flag's of the nations already on site are hissed for the official drilling take-off. more ...
2008-11-14		The last three days we had snow and strong winds in the camp which forced us to stop any outdoor activities. The temperatures decreased further to -26°C. In the next couple of days the ice thickness measurements will continue for the lake drilling campaign. The ice grew 10 cm within the last week to a now existing ice cover of 20 cm. Professionals from EBA will come up in early December to artificially increase the thickness for a safe traverse and a safe spot on the ice to position the lake drilling rig. more ...
2008-11-10		Accompanied by great weather the first days in the camp go by. Apart from water sampling we still wait for the final drilling permissions to turn up. The food is good and the drillers are friendly and helpful. A daily working meeting was introduced in the morning to discuss the further proceedings like rig placement, russian drill techniques and best drill diameters for gaining a rather well preserved core.. more ...
2008-11-07		Yesterday evening we arrived at the camp. The flight in the helicopter offered incredible views on this vast and impressive region here. We started to move our stuff to the boloks (living containers on runners) and hope to start with the drilling as soon as possible. more ...
2008-11-04		The last week we were stuck in Pevek after a 50 hour trip to this nice little city due to bad weather and loads of delays. Our group of 7 people is cranked together in a small room but in a good mood. Hopefully today the first group of drillers is flown to the lake and we will follow tomorrow. more ...